The Small Business Tax Tribunal (SBTT) is a hugely important step forward for self-employed small business people in their dealings with the Australian Taxation Office. The Tribunal brings a measure of fairness and justice to dealing with the ATO in a genuine low-cost situation.Self-Employed Australia are specialists in assisting in your dealings with the ATO. You need to be a Protected Member. Join here.
Key features of the Small Business Tax Tribunal
1. Tax concierge service through the Small Business Ombudsman.
2. 10 tax clinics through Universities to assist small business people.
3. A dedicated Small Business Tax Tribunal operating within the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The SBTT will:
- Be totally separate from ATO.
- Generally NOT involve lawyers.
- Appoint a case manager to support the taxpayer.
- Make decisions within 28 days of a hearing.
- Require a payment of $500 from the taxpayer for each appeal.
Importantly:
- ABN cancellations will be appealable to the SBTT.
- If the ATO uses external lawyers, the ATO must pay for the self-employed person to have ‘equivalent legal representation’.
Here are:
- The AAT’s guide to the operation of the Small Business Tax Tribunal
- The ATO’s statement on how it will conduct itself in the SBTT.
How the Tribunal became a reality after we launched our campaign
- Our campaign for a Small Business Tax Tribunal started in February 2017.
- The Morrison government announced they would do this in late November 2018.
- The Tribunal started on 1 March 2019.
- We thanked all the people who campaigned and worked to make the Small Business Tax Tribunal a reality.